Win 8.1 - Start Button Icon Not Found In Lower Left Corner Of Screen?

Nov 29, 2013

I'm getting confused about the new start button that was supposedly to come with the Win 8.1 update. I cant' find anything different from Win 8. Is the start button the icon found in the lower left corner of the screen?...or on my computer keyboard?...it looks like a window. I was expecting that I would get a dropdown start menu with Win 8.1 like I get with Win 7 when I click on that button. I would really like to have the Win 7 dropdown start menu when I click on that button in 8.1.

Today, for the first time, when I started my computer, the icons on the desktop (I use the old-style desktop) had shifted such that there was nothing in the top left corner. And I cannot drag anything up there anymore - there's this blank spot where I always used to keep my "My Documents" user profile folder. I turned off the option to be able to point up there and switch apps, and it didn't work.

Windows 8.1 on a Samsung laptop, still waiting for my recovery disk...

When Windows 8 boots up to Start menu I position mouse cursor to lower-left corner. But the popup icon for switching to desktop does not show anymore. I have to right-click and choose Desktop. I have Windows 8 about a week, and I'm not sure what I changed so that the popup icon does not show anymore...

This keeps popping up in the lower right corner of my screen every time I boot up.. What it is.. right or left clicking on it has no effect, nor clicking on any of the 4 icons. The only active area is the little arrow on the left that closes the popup. It may be part of Windows 8 or may be some part of the ASUS addons that were installed with my system..

i have hp omni 105 pc and when i switch on the computer.... it shows a black screen with a sign at top left corner. the sign moves a little down and after some time computer starts up..is it a sign of any thing bad in my comp?

I am new to Windows 8, which I am using with a non-touch screen so I am dependent on the mouse for controlling actions. The Start Screen has enough items on it to require me to scroll across to see them all, even when grouped. I would like to be able to have a second (lower level) screen which opens when I click on an item in the main Start Screen. For example, Microsoft Office has about 8 programs within it (Word, Excel, etc) and at present these are all separate items on my Start Screen. Is it possible to have just one tile on the Start Screen (labelled MS Office) which, when clicked, leads to another screen on which the eight programs appear?

Alternatively, (and this perhaps should be a separate thread) is it possible to have separate icons for these programs on the Desktop (but not in the Taskbar). I noticed that some programs which I installed appear on both the Start Screen and the Desktop, while others only appear on the Start Screen.

So instead of explaining what I'm looking at right now I'll post a picture here:

So as you can see that bar there is putting my volume automatically up to 100% every single time I touch it. Also, recently this has made the computer unable to drag the top or side or have any Windows 8 features available this includes both Windows buttons on my keyboard. I have tried cleaning my keyboard as that seemed to work last time on fixing this problem for maybe a month, however it worked for only an hour this time. It also seems note worthy that I cannot capitalize these letters at all: z x c v m , . and then I can't capitalize certain letters with certain shift bars so I can capitalize s with my left shift but not my right this happens with many other letters too but the ones I listed above cannot be capitalized at all.

When I hover the cursor in the top left corner when two or more apps are happen, I get small white outlines instead of the small preview images that I used to get on Windows 8 (screenshot attached to this thread, with settings), making it impossible to see what application I'm switching to!

Recent apps (top left corner) list still functions as normal, yet selected "tabs" are invisible whilst taking up the same amount of screen space for its click function. (If I hover over the top left, and move my mouse out just a little, i can still click / right click as though it was still visible.) when there are multiple options, the unselected tabs still show an outline visible with a transparent midsection

I am unsure what might have knocked the colour out of the app switching thing (or whatever I might call it, a name for what I am looking has been aloof,) maybe a windows update, or my graphics. i tried rolling back my graphics to no avail. Perhaps it is some arbitrary setting.

Ever since I have been working with Windows 8 I have received error messages stating "There was a problem sending the command to the program". It will be a document that I have created in word or excel on the exact same computer. I click on the folder in my library, find my document, double click on it, word or excel appears to start to open as a box displaying one or the other appears and then the error message appears. I click on "OK" in the error message and see the word or excel icon in my lower tray - click on that and there is my document. Not a huge deal but definitely not the way things should work..

I'm having a problem with getting the mouse wheel button to work correctly in 8.1

I've switched to left handed use to alleviate shoulder pain.

Before this I had the mouse and keyboard center installed. I use a cheap USB keyboard and a microsoft USB optical wheel mouse. Configured for the right hand, everything works correctly. The right button is the normal select, the right is context and I configured the wheel button to double click.

When I switch to left hand I lose the wheel button double click. The select / context buttons are properly working, but when I click the wheel it appears to be the same as a context button click. I thought maybe the settings got messed up when I switched the buttons so I tried setting the wheel button to another function (open charms in this case). That works. Switched the wheel button back to double click and it goes back to open context menu.

I uninstalled and re-installed the mouse and keyboard center. That made no difference. Seems like a bug here.

On, this is on a new (mid-april) HP laptop so there is a touchpad that I almost never use because I generally have the mouse, keyboard, and external monitor attached with the lid closed.

I have installed Classic Shell in an attempt to eradicate as much of Windows 8 as possible. I managed to get the word "Desktop" onto the right side of the quick launch taskbar. I have to click on a tiny arrow next to that word. That brings up a desktop menu but doesn't go to the desktop itself.

How can I get a desktop icon (not the word "Desktop") on the left side of the taskbar next to the start button? In Windows 7 the icon was on the right side but I somehow managed to move it to the left side.

I know about Win D and Win M. Those are okay but I'd rather have an icon to click on to eliminate extra keystrokes.

Likes to use the Windows 8 Start Screen that has all the tiles on it. Normally, she clicks on the "Mail" icon to get to her email, but now when she clicks on the icon it doesn't go to her email and instead it goes straight to her desktop. I tried clicking another icon; the "weather" one, and it too goes to the desktop. She told me she downloaded a couple games from iWin a few days ago and I noticed a new toolbar in her browser so I tried disabling that, but no change. I've checked what the default browser is, Internet Explorer (what she normally uses). I also tried making Chrome the default browser but still no change.

How To create a start button shortcut to get to start menu in the taskbar. So that we don't need to click the invisible place in the taskbar And there would be a button on which we will click to go to the metro ui start menu.

If we will click on the start button Then We can get The Start Screen. Is there any way to create it??

how to disable those messages that slide out from the upper right corner of the screen.

I've tried disabling notifications for 3 hours but it doesn't disable the notification that pops out every time that I go to print a document.

It's basically warning me every time that I print a page on my printer that the ink is low. I know it's low, I will probably be able to still print a hundred or more pages before the cartridges actually have to be replaced.

The main problem is that the way that I have to do real life work, I need to print one page documents one after another, so in an afternoon I may end up printing 150 separate pages, so that means I get that message sliding out 150 times and the warning sound playing 150 times, about once every 20 seconds or so as I submit each page for printing.

Anyway, probably more than you wanted to know, so how to turn off the notifications that appear in the upper right corner of my screen.

When I play videos on youtube, WMP, mplayer or adobe air/flash, video app or whatever, the entire display/screen moves to the left and leaves a black rectangle on the right side of the plasma TV (about one sixth the width of the display). It doesn't happen as soon as I launch the video, but happens when I exit the fullscreen or terminate the app/window and stays that way. The only way to reset it is to log off and log back in or restart the computer.

Mind you, it is not the apps/windows shifting to the left but the entire display, as if some one used the tv settings to move the display area to the left and so left part of the desktop and windows are cut off.

This is getting pretty annoying as keep switching to apps that display text such as VS, Notepad, browser etc in between while playing movies/videos. I can't read what is on the left side of the app window as it is not visible, I need to either resize the window or log out and log back in.

I am using Windows 8 x64 with latest updates and drivers (display and others).

Today I upgraded to Windows 8.1 (I think that's the version). I was pretty much forced to do the update. Now, my start button is completely gone and replaced with something that takes me to the Windows 8 screen, which I absolutely hate, because I can't control anything on it. I have installed a utility that let's me use the desktop, and it basically looks like Windows 7, which worked perfectly fine. It seems like all my apps are gone and this new button is linked only to the Windows 8 screen. How can I get my Windows 7 profile back?

I have my taskbar pinned to the left side of the screen, and it seems there is no way to disable the start button.

If I have the start button in the top left corner (which is fine - I can deal with it), the start charm shouldn't still be available in the bottom left. If I don't have the start button, than the charm is fine.

Why can't we turn off the start button? What was MS thinking with this setup? It's totally useless unless you keep their taskbar on the bottom!

Why doesn't Microsoft just remake the start menu with 2 sides, one to open the classic windows 7 start menu. And the other one to open the Metro UI. Honestly it seems to be the best way to do it I like using both although can't live with out the old start menu.

My laptop took a bit of a fall about a week ago - but grabbed it by the screen before it fell directly on the floor (near miss). Now yesterday, when the mouse pad on the laptop froze up, I drummed on it a bit to get it working and the laptop suddenly shut off and this message appears when trying to start up: BootDevice Not Found. Please install an operating system on your hard disk. I am not sure if it is relevant to the physical damage or if it is software related?

In 8.1 if I right-click the start-button to get up the new "simplified gray start menu" there are options like "Programs and Features", "Device Manager", "Command Prompt" etc. When I click on these they no longer launch, nothing happens.